First off, I’d like to thank you for taking the time to visit my page. Chances are you came
here from my Facebook page so you know me personally. You know that I’ve never
asked for help like this before, and I hope I’ll never have to again.
The quick version – my mom has been in a custody battle for my brother and sisters with
my narcissistic, manipulative, abusive ex-stepfather for almost four years and she needs
help. Out of consideration for my siblings, I’m not going to use any names; I hope you
can understand why.
Roughly two years ago, my ex-stepfather filed for a reallocation of custody and child
support siting numerous false accusations against my mom. All of the accusations
made can be proven to be false or flat out lies, except one; technically my mom was in
contempt for giving my youngest sister a multi-vitamin without clearing it with him first.
This is a man who was emotionally and verbally abusive to me starting almost
immediately after he and my mom got married. The one and only time he got physically
abusive with me, he tried to drag me in the house by my hair and start a fist fight with me
when I was 17. I ran away that day, literally running down Route 700, stopping to use
a neighbors phone so I could call my friend to come pick me up as I walked down the
road. I spent the last few months of my senior year and sometime after that living at my
friend’s house.
But the abuse didn’t stop there. He pounded my mom’s head into the kitchen floor,
punished or beat my little brother because he walked funny (only to find out a few years
later that my little brother has a mild form of palsy) and because he failed to master the
art of potty training quickly enough, made him eat his own vomit at the dinner table,
and more recently, made him unclog the toilet with his hands. Things like this went on
for years. Despite repeated calls to the authorities and the local county office of Job and
Family Services, nothing was done to protect the children or my mother from his abuse.
In November of last year, my ex-stepfather was again reported to Geauga County Job
and Family Services (GCJFS) by a court appointed Guardian ad Litem (GAL) because
he threw my brother into a bathroom stall at the local elementary school, hard enough to
dent the side. My brother posted about it on Facebook that day, reported it to the GAL,
his counselor, my mother and my oldest sister but now says he doesn’t remember it. My ex-stepfather was also reported for hitting my oldest sister in the face twice in November.
GCJFS conducted a series of interviews and believed every lie my ex-stepfather fed
them. He also started letting the kids do whatever they wanted so they would say good
things about him, telling them that my mom was too strict and they should come live with
him. His girlfriend even bought my youngest sister a horse.
On April 13th, on the recommendation of GCJFS, visitation was modified to give more time to this lying, abusive person. My mother’s attorney would not voice any of the objections she had. As soon as he got what he wanted, he went back to being the same person he always was. My oldest sister sees through him, now, but it’s a little too late, my brother has blocked out most of the abuse and says nothing ever happened, and my youngest sister, well, she got the horse. He never abused her and she only witnessed some of what happened to her older brother and sister, but won’t talk about it except to say that she does not want the same thing to happen to her.
On July 9th, my mom went to court with evidence of much of the abuse, proof the he
knowingly made false accusations about her, and solid legal reasons, according to Ohio
State Law, why reallocation of time and money should not be changed at all, especially
in his favor. The judge however would not allow my mom to present her information and
listened solely to GCJFS who believes that my ex-stepfather is a better parent than my
mom. (The GCJFS case worker is friends with my ex-stepfather’s girlfriend). The court
ruled in favor of my ex-stepfather, awarding him more time and money.
My mom has spent thousands of dollars on court costs and attorney’s fees over the last
few years that she has no money left to continue fighting. She represented herself at
the July 9th hearing. The GCJFS doesn’t believe her. The judge won’t listen to her and
actually is no longer allowing the children or my mom to see the counselor that they have
been seeing since the abuse began. Every county worker involved has swallowed my ex-stepfather’s story hook, line, and sinker and thinks my mom is the devil and won’t listen
to anything she says.
Any donation to help defray the cost of my mom’s expenses so she can continue to fight
is appreciated. But even more than that, please pass this along to anyone who could help
– a good attorney who’ll take the case or offer help pro bono, family abuse organizations
that might be able to help with my mom’s legal case, reporters who might be interested
in looking into the some of the shady things that are going on at GCJFS (the case worker
is family friends with my ex-stepfather’s girlfriend). Maybe if the right people find out
what’s really going on, the judge might listen.
Thank you again so much for taking the time to read this. Contact me on Facebook with
any questions or information. You can also click on my Google+ link. I don't check it often but a link to my Facebook account is on there. Again, thank you.
